He's Not Flesh And Blood
by Impossibility Girl
Summary: Allow me to introduce ARTHER, the Artifical Reasoning, Thinking, and Humor Emulation Robot designed by Alfred F. Jones to mimic human intellect and emotion. But, of course, there are reasons Artificial Intelligence is not to be dabbled with too much. AU. USUK.
1. Introduction

AN: This was a little idea I had a while back. I don't know if it's been done or it's cliche (probably, haha), but it started when I did a presentation on the uncanny valley and what it means to be sentient (it was for a philosophy class, so you'll excuse me if i throw some of those concepts around and it gets a bit...heady). Basically, Arthur is a robot who is programmed to have human emotions and falls for his main programmer/designer, Alfred. I will warn you, though I'm not going to give away the entire plot I have in mind, it will get a bit dark in later chapters. That being said, this is a short introductory chapter, so...I hope you like it.

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Alfred F. Jones, Ph.D

77 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, MA, 02139

(617) 253-1000

Dear Mr. Clark,

In regards to your recent letter concerning the progress of my research, I have written to cordially invite you to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the school of engineering in order to view the work I have been doing first hand. As you know, the robotics lab I head is currently working on programming a perfectly sentient robot. Over the past two years we have made incredible breakthroughs, though I understand your concerns. What exactly is the grant money going into, you may be asking. In this letter, I will briefly explain the concept:

Allow me to be the first to introduce you to our Artifical Reasoning, Thinking, and Humor Emulation Robot, or ARTHER as we call him in the lab. This has been our main project for a little over a year and a half now. Similarly to IBM's famous Watson, he uses a databank and the internet to gather information and cross check it in mere seconds. However, with ARTHER, we have decided to go a step beyond simple data collection in order to come up with facts or correct answers. It is the addition of a personality, a humor, which makes this robot unique from other AIs. We strive to create a realistic set of emotions that can be created spontaneously by the robot, utilizing the idea of cross-checking data and learning from interactions in the past. In this way, the more the robot experiences, the more it learns and the more "human" the conversations and emotions of the robot become.

It took us over half of a year to finish all of the correct programming, and while we are still fixing some issues and bugs, we have had nearly a year to converse with ARTHER and watch its ability to converse slowly increase. It has only been recently that we have noticed the emotions of the robot coming into play; ARTHER has shown signs of more primal, basic emotions such as anger, happiness, sadness, and on one occasion, even fear. We hope to, in the future, evoke emotions as complex as confusion, curiosity, jealousy, or even love (to just give a few examples of the vast palette of human emotions available).

I could not possibly explain or demonstrate the intricacies of ARTHER through writing. It would be much appreciated if you would do me the honor of accepting my invitation to visit my lab and view the progress that has been made over the past two years.

Sincerely,

Alfred F. Jones, Ph.D

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Alfred hated writing these things. They always sounded so formal and tense and…stuffy. Sometimes he forgot he was a professional adult who had to deal with _other_ professional adults. Even after obtaining both a Masters and a Ph.D in robotics engineering, he still liked to think of himself as a little kid who just tinkered with things until he made something that worked. That's what really drove him, if he was going to be honest. It was just fun to create things, especially if the end result worked (though sometimes he preferred if it failed at least once or twice; who doesn't like a good puzzle, after all?).

That's why ARTHER hadn't gotten to be the least bit boring, even after two years of working on the robot. It was inherently designed to keep Alfred entertained and busied; it was a robot that was learning more every day and continually growing more complex. There was a time, about a month ago, where ARTHER nearly broke down completely (mechanically, not emotionally) and almost lost all of his learning experience. Alfred himself had nearly broken down at that point, as well (emotionally, not mechanically). But most of the information was saved and ARTHER was alright in the end.

That was the incident that it had expressed fear, and when Alfred truly saw it was starting to learn more and more. Had ARTHER truly understood he might have "died" back then…? Logic says it was just the data collection, that he read articles online about "crashes" and "bugs" and "memory loss" and saw it was associated with "fear" which he then researched and replicated (all in a matter of a few seconds).

But it's hard to tell if it was just programs running in a machine when you look into glass eyes and actually, truly see a flash of fear. He'd never seen it again since that moment, so who knows?

It was a little while later that Alfred received the letter from Mr. Clark, the man heading the grant fund for all of Alfred's research, expressing interest in seeing what the lab had accomplished. Alfred, of course, knew this was a matter of his lab's fate; to continue the project or lose all money and scrap ARTHER.

Alfred truly didn't want to scrap ARTHER. And, seeing as he was beginning to be able to converse regularly and could move around in rudimentary steps, Alfred figured it was as good a time as any to demonstrate what ARTHER could do. Besides, from the way Mr. Clark talked, there was no way a simple written report of progress would be enough to continue the funds for an expensive project such as this. So, instead, he decided to invite him over to see for himself.

Alfred felt a little bad, but he was kind of hoping he would get to see more of those little emotional flare-ups from ARTHER. Perhaps nervousness when meeting Mr. Clark, pride after doing a good job, or even stress if he thought he didn't do well. A negative emotion was still a valuable result, though it wasn't something Alfred preferred to see. But the point of ARTHER was not to create a robot that was happy all the time; it was to create an android who could replicate a human being. So, while he hoped ARTHER could lead a happy android life, he was determined not to grow attached to any personality that developed or anything, because eventually the research would end and eventually ARTHER would have to be shut down.

Just because humans could replicate robots, doesn't mean they should. Or, perhaps ARTHER would serve as proof that at this point in time, androids are an impossibility. Either way, it ended with ARTHER being shut down. Alfred would make sure to keep the research going as long as possible, but he also made sure to remain friendly but detached from ARTHER. He just hoped he never got human enough to notice the detachment.

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Thank you very much for reading. Please leave a review if you enjoyed it!


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to everyone who liked the story so far. There are no warnings for this chapter, either, so please enjoy :)

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"How are we doing today, Arthur?"

Arthur blinked. Twice, precisely.

"I am fine today. And you, Dr. Jones?" He asked, mouth forming a smile as it should.

"Oh, I'm just great. Thank you for asking, Arthur. That's very kind of you." Alfred grinned back at the robot in front of him, happy to see the conversation was already going well. And Arthur (the affectionate nickname given to ARTHER, for obvious reasons) was starting to smile more; his emotions and reactions were slowly becoming more and more natural. This was a very good sign. Alfred was fairly certain he'd be ready to impress when Mr. Clark came to see him.

"What will I be working on today, sir?" Arthur shifted slightly, his legs pushed together, hands folded on his lap. His movements were stiff, his body just a prototype. If they got the grant, they would start building him a more functional body, one with more joints and more flexibility. It would allow for a wider range of emotions and gestures.

"Today…well, I guess today I wanted to start talking to you about Mr. Clark. Do you remember him, Arthur? He's the one who helped me create you. He gave me the money I needed to make that smart little mind of yours" Alfred laughed, patting Arthur on the head, like a father to a child. But he soon took it away, trying not to linger too much with his affectionate gestures.

"Of course I remember him, Dr. Jones. I remember everything you tell me. Unless I am instructed to erase it. Would you like me to erase this information?" Arthur asked, his head tilting slightly as he looked up at his creator.

"What? No, no. Not at all. Keep that information, it's good to know," Arthur gave a nod in the affirmative and Alfred smiled again, "Anyways…I just wanted to let you know that he will be visiting soon. I asked him to come down and see how good you are at talking to people and expressing your emotions, so that we can get even more money to help make you even better. Doesn't that sound nice, Arthur?"

"Affirmative. It sounds very nice. I was beginning to wonder when you would show me to people outside of the lab. It gets very lonely in here, sometimes." Arthur looked a little forlorn, and Alfred couldn't help but find that exciting. "and I can only learn so much between the internet and the few people I interact with. I cannot wait to get more experience. I want to learn all about human interactions"

"Of course, Arthur. That is what we want, as well. I'm happy that you want to learn more. That makes me very excited. Would you say that you're feeling excitement right now, as well?" Alfred looked at Arthur, and could tell from the moment's pause that Arthur was researching. He was looking for a definition of "excitement", videos of excited people, anything having to do with that word. It took him mere seconds to extract the data he needed and store it away as another new emotion to work on.

"Yes." He responded, a bigger smile showing now, voice slightly higher. He tried his best to make his reaction seem genuine, but as with any new emotion he learned, it first came out awkward. But Alfred understood, and praised him.

"Now, Arthur…would you mind if we shut you down for a little while?" Once, Alfred had made the mistake of doing so without consulting Arthur. When they woke him up, he seemed hurt and sulked for days, refusing to speak to any of the scientists, and eventually only responding when Alfred sat down and had a very long chat, asking Arthur what, exactly, was wrong. He had said it was like being hit over the head and knocked out against your will. Would Alfred ever want to be forced to sleep, having had no say in the matter?

That had been the first time this experiment really made Alfred feel…uncomfortable. Was Arthur truly aware of what was happening to him, or was it just from all of the data he had compiled from online sources, science fiction, and other such things? But Arthur had woken up and right away, without needing hardly a millisecond to react, and was instantly crabby. Most of the scientists wrote it off as him having an exceptionally high speed when it came to gathering data, but…Alfred wasn't sure. Maybe it was because he wanted his experiment to work so badly; he wanted to believe a robot could actually become a sentient being, and not just a program built to feel. That the robot could gain experience and memories and use its circuitry just like neurons in a brain.

"I do not. But may I ask what for?" Arthur interrupted Alfred's though, his casual blank expression now on his face once again.

"We would like to provide you with extra maintenance in the next few weeks, so you will be flawless when Mr. Clark comes, is all" Alfred shrugged, getting up from his squatting position. He did a small yawn and a stretch, which Arthur watched curiously.

"Am I not flawless already?" Oh, cheeky bastard might have been learning a little too much from the internet.

"Not yet, I'm afraid. That's why we'll need this grant money. So I can afford to get you and the lab some new, high-tech equipment. And don't forget, you're designed after humans, so you'll never be one hundred percent flawless. We've all got our faults. But it's what we want."

"That is true. You are very bad at spelling and eating healthily, Dr. Jones." Arthur supplied, trying to be helpful, with that small smile of his.

Alfred, however, frowned deeply at that, "Arthur. People don't usually like to hear their flaws pointed out, even if we do all have them. It is considered very rude. Please don't repeat that action again, unless asked to."

Arthur stared a moment and allowed that new piece of information to set in his mind, "The command has been logged in my data banks. Thank you, Dr. Jones. I apologize for being very rude to you"

"It's alright, Arthur. I do forgive you. For my sake, though, be a little more careful around Mr. Clark! If you offend him too much, you might have to be shut down for more than a maintenance run." Alfred joked, sitting down on a nearby swivel chair. He grabbed a folder with information from Arthur's last maintenance check from several days ago. Everything seemed fine, but he wanted to run the tests again, just to make sure he was fine before they began adding new (or fixing old) programs.

"That sounds scary, Dr. Jones. I will note that I need to be careful around Mr. Clark…" Arthur took a moment to think, before piping up again, "In this case, would 'sensitive' be the most appropriate definition for 'careful'?"

Alfred hummed in question, before looking up at Arthur and blinking, "Oh, ah…yes. I suppose 'sensitive' would be more fitting. Good job, Arthur." Alfred put the folder back on the desk and pushed himself up, moving over to Arthur, "Alright, well, it's time to shut you down. Do you mind if I do that now, Arthur?"

Arthur frowned a bit, but nodded. Alfred tugged at a small hinged piece of silicon covered metal on Arthur's arm where his central control panel was located. He pushed the shut down button and watched as Arthur's bright green, glass eyes dulled before going completely dark.

Alfred sighed softly, calling in a couple of his lab technicians to run the tests for him, and double check everything after that. He made his to his personal desktop, sorting through his emails before he opened up one of the programs he was working on for Arthur. He was trying to create a more acute interface for the data gathered on emotions and Arthur's ability to express them; mainly his tone of voice, range of facial expressions, and body language (not limited to the face). He'd been working on it for a couple of weeks now. It was to help Arthur display more complex emotions, and even mixtures of several emotions at the same time. He'd be testing it out for the first time today and even though he was sure there would be bugs, he was excited to start utilizing his new program. He was sure Arthur would be excited to know more, as well, once he was started up again.

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Once again, reviews are much appreciated! Thank you! :) I will try and update with the next chapter soon, and hopefully start to get into some of the more serious issues of the story.


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